Today is Monday, Aug. 10, the 223rd day of 2020. There are 143 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 10, 1944, during World War II, American forces overcame remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.
On this date:
In 1680, Pueblo Indians launched a successful revolt against Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico.
In 1861, Confederate forces routed Union troops in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in Missouri, the first major engagement of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River.
In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.
In 1945, a day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Imperial Japan conveyed its willingness to surrender provided the status of Emperor Hirohito remained unchanged. (The Allies responded the next day, saying they would determine the Emperor’s future status.)
In 1962, Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man made his debut in issue 15 of “Amazing Fantasy” (cover price: 12 cents).
In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actor Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living Japanese-Americans who were interned by their government during World War II.
In 1991, nine Buddhists were found slain at their temple outside Phoenix, Arizona. (Two teenagers were later arrested; one was sentenced to life in prison, while the other received 281 years.)
In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing (McVeigh was convicted of murder and executed; Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison).
In 2006, British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage.
In 2016, Lonnie Franklin Jr., the Los Angeles serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper,” was sentenced to death for the murders of nine women and a teenage girl. Franklin was found dead in his cell on March 20, 2020.